Work vehicles, such as construction equipment and agricultural tractors, typically include a remote fluid power supply system for powering tools and implements pushed or pulled by the work vehicle. The remote fluid power supply systems typically include a fluid pump which is driven by the engine of the work vehicle and which pressurizes fluid, such as a hydraulic fluid. The pressurized fluid is delivered through hoses or other conduits wherein the pressurized fluid powers the tool or implement. The supply of pressurized fluid is controlled by a manual or electronic actuation of individual valves located at the front of the work vehicle proximate the vehicle's engine. Although locating the valves at the front of the work vehicle enables the valves to be easily actuated by control cables and linkages from the operator's station or cab, this arrangement requires the hoses connecting the valves to the couplers and the implement to be routed from each valve to the coupler at the rear of the work vehicle. Because each valve requires one hose for supplying pressurized fluid to the coupler and the implement, and one hose for returning fluid from the implement, work vehicles requiring a relatively large number of valves inherently include an even larger number of hoses extending from the valves at the front of the work vehicle to fluid couplers at the rear of the work vehicle. These large number of hoses require valuable space and cause undesirable congestion. This congestion is even more problematic in articulated work vehicles where the hoses must cross the articulated hinge of the work vehicle in close proximity to the work vehicle's drive shaft. If the work vehicle is equipped with a three-point hitch, additional hoses must extend from the valves at the front of the work vehicle to the three-point hitch cylinder assembly at the rear of the vehicle, further congesting the area surrounding the articulated hinge.
Recent work vehicles have attempted to solve this problem by locating the individual fluid valves at the rear of the work vehicle. By doing so, only two hoses extend from the fluid pump and reservoir at the front of the vehicle to the valve at the rear of the vehicle. The first valve provides pressurized fluid from the pump to the valve while a second hose returns pressurized fluid from the valve to the fluid reservoir.
While such work vehicles have substantially reduced the number of hoses extending from the front of the work vehicle to the rear of the work vehicle and across the articulation hinges, such remote fluid power supply systems remain difficult to use and employ. Because the valves are collectively connected to a single hose providing pressurized fluid from the fluid pump and to a single hose for returning fluid to the fluid reservoir, the valves are typically assembled in a single bank. Although easier to assemble and possibly easier to mount to the work vehicle, such banks of multiple valves occupy a large area. At the same time, however, the area at the rear of the work vehicle available for mounting such valves and couplers is extremely limited. Where the work vehicle additionally includes a three-point hitch or a power take-off shaft, the shortage of available mounting space is even greater since the upper hitch link of the three-point hitch also requires additional space for freedom of movement.
Because it is necessary that the upper hitch link of the three-point hitch and the power take-off shaft be generally positioned along the transverse center line of the work vehicle, known work vehicles mount the entire bank of valves to one side of the upper hitch link or the power take-off shaft. Because it is generally desirable to mount the bank of valves in generally the same location at the rear of the work vehicle to simplify manufacturing and to advance user familiarity with the layout components at the rear of the tractor, even work vehicles excluding such options as a three-point hitch or a power take-off mount their auxiliary valves to one side of the transverse center line of the work vehicle.
Although locating the bank of valves to one side of the transverse center line of the work vehicle accommodates such options as the three-point hitch or the power take-off and advances user familiarity, this layout has several drawbacks. Because the bank of valves is located to one side of the transverse center line, longer hoses or extensions are required to connect the implements to couplers extending from the valves. In addition, mounting these longer hoses to the implement is also problematic. For example, in many cases, the longer hoses must be threaded through a three-point hitch, increasing the risk of damage to the hoses.
As a result, there is a continuing need for the work vehicle having a remote fluid power supply system that (1) utilizes existing space at the rear of the work vehicle without interfering with the use of such options as a power take-off or a three-point hitch, (2) may be uniformly and consistently mounted at substantially the same location at the rear of the work vehicle regardless of whether the work vehicle includes such options as a three-point hitch or a power take-off shaft and (3) that it is easy to locate and connect to the implement or tool to be powered.